New book celebrates cultural history of Twickenham

A new book was launched yesterday celebrating the cultural history of high streets across London – including Twickenham.

Over 100 people from the cultural sector gathered in London's Living Room at City Hall to attend the launch of a new book: Discover Your High Street.

Over the past two years, thousands of people have celebrated their local high streets through music and performance at dozens of free events on the streets of Twickenham and six other high streets across London.

‘The Streets’ was initiated by the Greater London Authority and funded by Arts Council England. Richmond Council is part of a consortium who, along with music producers Serious, has been working to create a touring programme of high-quality arts activity, including non-traditional performance spaces to encourage local businesses to open their doors to host arts activity.

As part of this programme, the heritage project, Discover Your High Street was born, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Volunteers and heritage partners in each borough have worked together to combine the history of these seven high streets over the past 150 years, celebrating the common themes and key differences between the boroughs.

The impacts of growth, regeneration and World Wars are also included in the book, as well as the history of high streets such as Twickenham who played host to a range of stars including Frank Sinatra, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones throughout the twentieth Century.

The book is now being distributed free of charge to libraries, venues, heritage centres and businesses across London and will shortly be available to download from The Streets website.

“As we come to the end of this programme, I would like to thank everyone for taking part. Thousands of people have enjoyed the fantastic free Streets events over the last two years and dozens of businesses have taken part. ‘Discover Your High Street’ has furthered the opportunity for local people to come together to share and celebrate their high streets and town centres.

“High streets are at the very heart of our communities. And, through this programme of arts and culture and the launch of this book, we have been able to celebrate the history of Twickenham, showcase our local streets and unlock the potential for high street entertainment.”

Notes for editors

If you are a journalist and would like further information about this press release, contact Elinor Firth on 020 8487 5159.